SEP 15. 2009, San
Juan, PR, Twenty-three individuals, including eight employees of
American Airlines were arrested today in Puerto Rico and Miami as part
of DEA’s ‘Operation Heavy Cargo’ which uncovered a drug trafficking
organization that used commercial aircraft to transport cocaine to the
United States. Commercial
aircraft were used to ship drugs to East Coast; 23 nabbed in ‘Operation
Heavy Cargo’

The four-count
indictment charges that the defendants, aided and abetted each other,
participated in a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in
excess of 9,000 kilograms of cocaine, aboard American Airlines
commercial aircrafts.

This drug
trafficking organization, led by defendant Wilfredo Rodríguez Rosado,
began operating in or about 1999 and has been responsible for smuggling
over $19 million worth of cocaine into the United States. Rodríguez
Rosado recruited and organized a group of American Airlines employees to
ensure that suitcases loaded with kilograms of cocaine were smuggled
into American Airlines aircrafts and transported to different cities in
the U.S.

"Today's
arrests are examples of DEA's success in aggressively pursuing those
criminal organizations which exploit vulnerabilities in our
airports, airline recruits and air transportation employees to
facilitate their drug trafficking activities. With these arrests DEA
closes another route for thousands of kilograms of cocaine to reach
the United States or any other part of the world from Puerto Rico,"
said DEA Special Agent in Charge Javier F. Peña. "With the
cooperation of the airline industry, the Puerto Rico Ports Authority
and our law enforcement counterparts, DEA will keep drug traffickers
away from our airports. By denying the drug traffickers alternate
smuggling routes, we disrupt the flow of drugs into Puerto Rico and
discourage the use of the island as a trans-shipment point in the
Caribbean."

Four of the
defendants are charged with attempt to posses with the intent to
distribute approximately 20 kilograms of cocaine in June 2009; a
transaction the defendants were unable to complete for reasons
beyond their control. The indictment also includes an $18 million
forfeiture count for property throughout Puerto Rico.

“The United
States Attorney’s Office, along with our state and federal law
enforcement counterparts, will continue investigating and
prosecuting drug trafficking organizations which use our island as a
trans-shipment point for drugs to the U.S. mainland. The use of
commercial aircraft to smuggle narcotics in and out of Puerto Rico,
also creates a serious threat to our national security,” said Rosa
Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto
Rico.

If convicted,
the defendants face a minimum of ten years imprisonment and a
maximum of life imprisonment, with fines of up to $4 million. Agents
from the Bayamón Strike Force, the Puerto Rico Police Department,
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation participated during the
investigation and arrests this morning.